Beach Bum Theology isn’t a new system. It’s the same system thousands of students learn in seminary and bible college. It’s the same system that pastors, elders, Sunday school teachers and small group leaders teach. It’s the same system you can read about in books and blogs. I’m pretty sure I’m not even repackaging it in some newfangled way. It’s my understanding of the Bible through the lens of my life, seminary education, work experience and missionary experience as the Holy Spirit guides this aspiring missionary/beach bum.
I’m not seeking to be reactionary because I don’t find that helpful in most circumstances but I find myself in an environment dominated by legalistic churches where grace seems to take a back seat to outward appearance and outward expressions or manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Where character and the condition of the heart before God is subservient to observable behavior in a church setting or how one dresses. In short it is an environment where the Pharisees and Judaizers would feel right at home.
By the grace of God there are some pastors and churches who are seeking the Lord earnestly and seeking to preach the word faithfully but they can be counted on my hands with fingers left over. In a city of 500,000 there are shockingly few pastors and even fewer believers. I suspect there are many sincere believers here in churches where they are not able to grow to maturity because the system they are under isn’t designed to lead to biblical maturity.
It is the hope of this beach bum to follow Paul’s exhortation in 1 Tim. 4:16 to pay close attention to yourself and your teaching and 2 Tim 4:2 to preach the word and I am joined by many pastors and teachers from this region in this. We love to preach but we often preach without any love. It is not loving to not permit a person into your church because they aren’t in the proper uniform or they aren’t conforming to a certain view of external behavior. 2 Tim 3:16-17 teaches us to take in the whole bible because all scripture is inspired by God and useful! If we neglect the message of scripture from 1 Cor. 13, that we can be the most gifted believer but lack love then our gifts don’t really serve the church, we neglect the greater gift from God. So as the Holy Spirit leads we will develop this beach bum theology
I’m not seeking to be reactionary because I don’t find that helpful in most circumstances but I find myself in an environment dominated by legalistic churches where grace seems to take a back seat to outward appearance and outward expressions or manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Where character and the condition of the heart before God is subservient to observable behavior in a church setting or how one dresses. In short it is an environment where the Pharisees and Judaizers would feel right at home.
By the grace of God there are some pastors and churches who are seeking the Lord earnestly and seeking to preach the word faithfully but they can be counted on my hands with fingers left over. In a city of 500,000 there are shockingly few pastors and even fewer believers. I suspect there are many sincere believers here in churches where they are not able to grow to maturity because the system they are under isn’t designed to lead to biblical maturity.
It is the hope of this beach bum to follow Paul’s exhortation in 1 Tim. 4:16 to pay close attention to yourself and your teaching and 2 Tim 4:2 to preach the word and I am joined by many pastors and teachers from this region in this. We love to preach but we often preach without any love. It is not loving to not permit a person into your church because they aren’t in the proper uniform or they aren’t conforming to a certain view of external behavior. 2 Tim 3:16-17 teaches us to take in the whole bible because all scripture is inspired by God and useful! If we neglect the message of scripture from 1 Cor. 13, that we can be the most gifted believer but lack love then our gifts don’t really serve the church, we neglect the greater gift from God. So as the Holy Spirit leads we will develop this beach bum theology